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Euclid Avenue: A Storied Past, A Promising Future

Nonfiction flashback! A lot has happened around Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio since I wrote this story 4 years ago. A Heinen’s supermarket opened up in the renovated Cleveland Trust Building. The Schofield Building turned red and became a Kimpton Hotel. The Cavs won a title. Public Square received a makeover. The Republicans threw a convention. And the Cleveland Indians fought hard but lost to the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. Speaking of Chicago, I remember when Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, it’ll pass you by.” Here’s a look at Euclid Avenue, in my mind, before Cleveland was cool again.

Tracy Kidder writes in Home Town ‘how small a piece of time the living occupy’. In this instance he is referring to a place where a mental hospital once stood, now a mound of dirt covered in snow where children go sledding. This transformation is just one example in Northampton, Massachusetts – the physical cornerstone of his delightful book written in 1999.

Kidder’s reference to mortality and how we reinvent things to suit our needs is true of any place in the world. Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio comes to mind.

I remember walking my favorite section of Euclid Avenue in the 1980s. Exiting a bus around 7 in the morning at Public Square and trekking 24 blocks to Cleveland State. I preferred a brisk stroll to transferring buses. After school I would head back to Public Square to catch a bus home to Garfield Heights.